Jamesszy94

What?! No way! That makes me sad, next time please come say hi. I love meeting people from this RB Blog community.
That was the sailing that almost did not happen for us either because of health issues with my Dad, so when you mentioned your Mom, that resonates with me.
We also will be spending some time in Rome in July after our Voyager sailing. Can't wait to follow your adventures!

Hi Again! Thanks everyone for the well wishes for my mom and support on this crazy cruise. Ok so some discussion about the plans for this cruise:
The Ship:
This is technically our 3rd cruise on Odyssey of the Seas. We did a back to back on her in December for Christmas and NYE just a few months ago so it will feel a bit like coming home as many of the crew mentioned they would still be on for this sailing. My mom and I really like Quantum class, in particular the Coastal Kitchen on it as well as just how classy the whole ship feels for lack of a better descriptor. My dad prefers Oasis class but we out-voted him, and also the two of them will get their Oasis fix with Wonder in August (once again without me haha).
The Cabins:
My parents are back in a GS, basically the same cabin they had in December just 2 floors lower. Ironically, they both hate the GS on Quantum class but by the time they figured that out it was far too late to change it and prices had been jacked way up. We never have used Royal Up either as we don't love surprises so my parents agreed they will keep what they have and just prepare better for it this time. Hopefully once on board I can post about the downfalls of that category with some pictures, and maybe some pointers to make it work better. Granted, I know we have no right to complain as this category is often booked with 3 or 4 guests and it will just have my parents in it.
I am in a J4. I was in a J3 in December. The JS categories have different bathroom, closet and sofa layouts on this ship so I have some thorough pictures from December that I can use to compare once on board. I think there are pluses and minuses to both from past experience and I am one person so really I could make whatever work, I only ended up with this cabin because it was only $213 more than a balcony at the time we booked this with the 150% single supplement.
Dining:
We booked a 5 night dining package. The other nights we will probably end up at Coastal Kitchen. We are not Windjammer/buffet people so warning in advance you probably won't see much of that in this live blog.

Flights:
We are flying on British Airways through London Heathrow with a 5 hour layover. We will spend those 5 hours crossings our fingers and toes that our bags don't end up lost in Heathrow. Thankfully we all have Apple airtags in our cases which have proven themselves very handy. We did this flight through London instead of Dallas so we would land in the evening instead of in the morning. Last year we landed at 7am in Amsterdam for a British Isles cruise and my mom said never again, so heres to also crossing our fingers that this flight works out better for us adjusting to the time zone. 
Pre-cruise:
I will detail this more later but we have 3 full days in Rome pre cruise, hopefully after a good night sleep after landing later in the evening.
Post cruise:
Given the day of the week this cruise ends (a Friday), and the fact that I, unlike my parents, still work full time, we are only staying one night outside of Rome post cruise and have a pretty early flight the next day home. We would have flown home the same day if we could but it is just not that logistically possible with the distance between Civitavecchia and FCO and how early all the flight options are. We are also taking British Airways through Heathrow with the same 5 hour layover on the way home. Once again, wish us luck.
And I guess just some backstory on Europe for us:
This is my 8th European Cruise. The closest cruise to this one that we did was on the original Pacific Princess aka the Love Boat in 1997. I was just shy of 4 years old so I obviously don't remember a thing. I do know that cruise left from Venice and went to some of these ports but not all of them. All of that to say, most of these ports are going to be fairly new experiences for us (hence why you will see us primarily doing ship tours when I cover that sometime in the future). Also, my mom gets nervous about missing the ship and would have us back on board with many hours to spare if we didn't do ship tours so this is the best solution for us when we do cruises in Europe. I know it means we will just get a sampling of the "Greatest Hits" in each port but I will take it all things considered.

Anyways, I will probably mainly be posting on weekends leading up to the trip given my work schedule. In the future posts, I will try to cover what we booked in terms of pre-cruise tours as well as our shore excursions. Also, will probably cover a little of the dreaded packing process when I finally decide to start that.

Thanks again and TTYL!

Hi All!

A little about myself since I haven't posted on here before, I am Ashley, a 30 year old from Arizona who has been cruising mostly with my parents (and grandparents before they passed) but sometimes solo, with friends, and with groups since I was 9 months old. I have mostly done Royal Caribbean but I have also done some Celebrity and Princess as well as one each of Holland America, NCL, and Carnival (we don't talk about those, there is a reason it was one each). Anyways, all that to say I am very loyal to Royal with nearly 80 Royal Caribbean cruises under my belt. When I am not cruising, I am a full time software engineer to pay for my cruising habit.
And now for some history on this cruise.... my parents and I first booked this itinerary for October of 2021 in the summer of 2020. Heck, we also booked cruises in June of 2020 when our May cruise was canceled, August when June was cancelled, November when August was cancelled, so on so forth, you get the idea. Fast forward to summer of 2021 and well over 40 FCCs later, the restart was finally happening and the final payment due date for this cruise was quickly approaching. There we still a lot of unknowns about Israel and what the covid requirements would be to go there and as that was the main reason we booked that cruise (more on that later...), after a family meeting we cancelled it and I spent 2 weeks in October on the Symphony of the Seas with a friend (and my parents ultimately joining for the second cruise after some convincing) instead where I finally earned pinnacle after waiting the entire restart only a little more than 1 cruise away (I promise, I am not a snotty pinnacle, I refuse to wear the pin and prefer to go with the flow instead). With that I had finally made it back on a ship for the first time since January 2020 but I still hadn't made it to holy lands.
Fast forward again to February 2023 when my parents were on the Celebrity Beyond celebrating their 40th anniversary without me (to quote Stephanie Tanner: how rude... not, they deserved the vacation without me and they had their neighbors with them to take my place, also I am pretty sure my work would have killed me if I took another cruise at that point). Before they headed out on their cruise, I looked at the itineraries released just a couple months before for Europe in 2024 and found this one, and made the mistake of emailing my parents with the details. It didn't take much convincing that we had to book this cruise. A week later, after a lot of back and forth with them and the future cruises agent on Celebrity Beyond, we finally got this booked and everything confirmed. Note to my future self and really everyone reading this: never book Royal on Celebrity, while we have successfully booked Celebrity on Royal before with no issues, this was a nightmare to say the least, the on-board agent had no clue what the different cabin categories were and after pleading with her that Odyssey had J1s, J3s, and J4s and they were all Junior Suites, she was finally able to find more than just the J1s available.
With the cruise finally booked, let's talk about why we wanted to do it: Israel. My mom and I are Jewish and my mom has always wanted to go to the holy land but has said she would never do it by land, she just didn't feel comfortable due to some experiences her parents/my grandparents had when they went. And similar to me, she loves cruising. So this seemed like the perfect solution. I had also unfortunately aged out of birthright during Covid as a result of them changing the age policy during that time so this would give me a taste of Israel to see if I wanted to join a volunteer trip or something else in the future. When June 2023 arrived and the flights opened up to book, there wasn't a doubt in our minds that we were going on this cruise. Before booking the flights we had a family meeting and I made one important note to my parents: If this cruise doesn't go to Israel, are you still ok with going for the other ports? They both said yes. My mom has always wanted to go to Santorini since watching Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants so while it was not Israel, there would still be something on her bucket list to cross off. Even though the itinerary at the time didn't have Ephesus, Turkey on it, we knew it was likely this would appear if Israel was removed and my dad wanted to see the House of the Virgin Mary after missing the opportunity to see it while on the Splendour of the Seas in 2000. After that discussion, our flights were booked and we started making hotels and other plans for the trip including booking excursions for every port except Israel since conveniently none were open for Israel and also I knew if we did make it there, we would want to do a private tour so we could cover both the Christian and Jewish heritage there adequately.
Once again, let's fast forward this time to November 2023. Unfortunately, we all know what happened on October 7th. The days that followed made it very obvious that this was sadly not like other times Israel had been attacked. They were not getting out of this quickly. We received the not at all surprising email that this itinerary was changing. Out was Israel and in was Turkey, as I unfortunately predicted, along with Mykonos. After yet another family meeting (I think this is at least the 3rd one in this story, sensing a theme here...) we unanimously decided we were still going, barring any crazy world event. It was full steam ahead and I finally decided to start planning the tours for our pre-cruise stay in Rome. We also booked an excursion for Mykonos through the ship and I left my dad to figure out Ephesus himself. I still don't think he has that planned, you can tell who is the planner and who isn't in this family.
Now let's fast forward to February 2024. It was Super Bowl Sunday and I had plans to go to the Phoenix Open with my dad in the corporate tents on the 17th hole. Instead, I got woken up by a call at 6am with news that my mom had passed out just before midnight the night before and they were in the ER room at Mayo Hospital. This cruise was far from the first thing on my mind, I wanted to know how my mom was doing, what had happened, if there was anything they needed as the hospital is less than a mile from my house, I can literally see it from my backyard. In the weeks that followed, and what seemed like hundreds of doctors appointments, a couple dental appointments, and a surgery later, we finally brought up this cruise again. Her doctor's gave her the all clear to go, they just warned that we had to be careful, she couldn't over exert herself. Another family meeting and the swapping of tours later to some less strenuous ones, we were once again on track for this cruise to happen.
Now finally we have made it to today. We fly out in a little more than 2 weeks on the evening of 4/30. We finally settled on a hotel for our one night post cruise in Rome before flying home so the last thing is planned. As many hurdles as this cruise had and the amount of times we thought this wouldn't happen, we are looking forward to it finally happening, even if it is a little different than originally planned. I am just grateful that we are all still here to enjoy this as a family. I have never done a live blog of a cruise before. Not here and also not on that other cruise board that shall not be named. Something about this cruise feels different, while I hope this isn't my last big European adventure with my parents, I know there is a chance that will be the case so I really want to remember this and document it. Not only are my parents getting older, I am also getting older and who knows what will come for my future as well. While we have plenty more cruises planned as a family out of the US to the Caribbean as well as the Mexican riviera on the west coast, I don't know that I will have a trip like this as a family once again.
I promise my future posts won't be as much of a novel. There was a lot of backstory to cover and I hope I at least made it interesting to read. In the coming days I will start to talk about our plans for both pre-cruise and on the cruise but figured it made sense to start with the back story first.
Since I have never done this before, not sure how to end these, I am sure I will figure that out better as I go. So for this one I guess I should say TTYL!
 

I am seeing 7 night sailings on Icon and Star that are running $4,200 for 2 people INSIDE CABIN just with cruise fare and taxes (just the standard caribbean ports from Florida).  There are definitely Celebrity 7 night sailings on Edge class for surprising prices (7 night “Beyond" out of Miami for 2 for $1,706 incl tax).  
It’s not to spur debate about Icon class vs Edge class and there are similar Oasis class vs Edge class examples but the point is that is if there is a point I get 5 drink vouchers on Celebrity there will definitely be some booking shifts in my empty nester family.  There are many Celebrity sailings that are really attractive from a ports-of-call standpoint but I can’t go on Celebrity without a drinks package where on RCL the D+ vouchers, 2 bottles of carry on wine, and 1 bottle amenity wine is sufficient. 🤪

Agreed. But don't give them any ideas about the lobster. Next thing you know, that is gone too.

I am cheap, I only book the cheapest option available and look at my bookings everyday and re-price if it gets any lower than what I pay 😂
I do Royal Up, but never gotten anything so far.
I am happy with regardless of where we sleep, as long as I am on a ship! 😁 I am not too difficult to please.

15 days to go!

I was unaware when I started this roll-call thread, but Grandeur is getting a light touch-up in dry dock right now and apparently just has one sailing between getting out of dry dock and our embarkation. 

How exciting!

I like big ships and I cannot lie. 

Mods, please can we shut this one down ?  Nothing useful here.

I can understand not wanting to put the little one in the Pullman. The sofa or with mom and dad in bed could have been an option. 
I don't know about other folks, but when I am looking to book a cruise, I have 3 things open on my tablet: 
-Royal website to see what's available
-Cruisedeckplans to see layout and pictures if available
-YouTube for videos showing actual people in the actual room
For the amount of money I am spending, you bet your biscuits I am doing my research. I want to see and know as much as possible. 
So again while I understand your concern, the onus is on YOU to know what you are getting. Or as suggested, a TA.
I don't think you will get the resolution you are looking for, but if it makes you feel better then do you.

Dear Someone_else,
Well, welcome to these boards and discussions about RC.  There are dozens of cruise forums, and more than a dozen cruise lines, and there are always complaints, questions, reviews, and discussions.  Some people post the same question on different sites and responses will vary. Often folks disagree, and everyone's experiences are individual and unique. Remember, all these forums are used by fellow cruisers, who are busy with their own lives, but do enjoy sharing their cruise experiences. 
You were seeking feedback with an issue, and you received a lot, so you can either use some of the advice for your situation, or just realize your concerns will never be resolved.  Then the choice is cancel the cruise and choose another ship, or another cruise line, or do some other kind of vacation that suits your family better. Unfortunately, in no way, shape or form is this a "government" issue (I know, I worked in government at one point in my life). You are simply a dissatisfied consumer. 
Remember that cruises today are mass market experiences, and the cruise line has no responsibility to meet every person's needs or wishes, nor do they try.  Sometimes negative publicity pushes an event toward a more positive outcome, but also having worked in the travel industry at a very early point in my life, kindness and friendly relationships are a better choice in the long run. The bottom line is no one is making you spend money on a RC cruise, so if you are not happy, spend it elsewhere.  Please continue to participate in forums and share your cruise experiences, because that educates others, and hopefully, will create future improvements. Best wishes.

Sorry that was a typo. It was supposed to be 2025. My bad.

If you filter the search by each of those ships individually and then by cruise date, you will see that both Serenade and Radiance have nothing showing beyond September 2026, when they finish their summer seasons in Alaska.
I would expect at least one of them to do an eastbound Panama Canal sailing. Those tend to be unpredictable in terms of release dates and are sometimes simply put up for sale on random dates with no advance warning. 
What they would do after the Canal transit is anyone's guess. I would like to see one of them do the longer 10/11 night Caribbean sailings from Florida over the winter, as currently the longest is 8 nights. 🤞However, given Royal's recent focus on shorter cruises that may be wishful thinking on my part. 🤔
As for Ovation, I would expect her to be doing the Singapore sailings. Those are due for release around the middle of next month.

Mine was only filtered to Jan 2026 - April 2026 and there was nothing.

What do we think about the fact that Radiance and Serenade are blocked out for 2026?

If this post is real, then it's a good reason to work with a travel agent.

If I am understanding correctly, you booked an interior guarantee.  This is the cheapest option available for booking and doesn't entitle you to any choice.  You are going to get the best room that hasn't already sold - period.  If you want something more, you will need to pay for it.

So, what's the problem again?

Government agency??? You can’t be serious

No other posters are missing the point. You had an interior cabin, it had Pullmans which according to you didn't meet your needs, you think Royal should have done something to improve your situation. The rest of us are just pointing out why your expectation is misguided.

Your expectations and assumptions about your cabin don't align with what you paid for. You got exactly what you paid for. Sleep in the beds that fit you and your children appropriately or move your deposit to another sailing and wish your family members a "happy anniversary, but sorry, I'm booking a different cruise. I'm not happy with the cabin I reserved for your anniversary sailing." The hospitality industry doesn't care who or how one sleeps in their beds, just that they've got heads on the pillows ($$).

Royal Caribbean should give me a JS at the price of an interior because that really fits my needs better………….

Then pay for a stateroom that DOES work for your situation or don't cruise, but don't blame Royal Caribbean for your family dynamic (ages) and physical characteristics (height/weight).
Your opinion - better choices for families with young children and large adults should be available at lower prices. Reality - what's available is what's available.

There are no next steps and no one for you to contact that can resolve the problem you have created for yourself. I realize this is not what you want to hear but it is the truth.

Respect the facts in the replies.
Children in Beds (not the floor)
Adults in Pullmans.
Royal Caribbean gave you an option/cabin that was safe for the age and size of the people involved. You chose and choose to not see it that way.